According to the New Daily Nation, Biman had also considered the ATR72 from Avions de Transport Régional (Toulouse Blagnac) before settling on the Canadian-manufactured turboprop. Airline sources said that given that Biman is a state-owned enterprise (SOE), the new purchase would be completed on a government-to-government basis.

"As Biman acquired two Dash 8 Q400 aircraft on lease basis for five years, the national flag carrier will have to add more aircraft to continue domestic and regional routes after the expiry of the agreement," Shakil Meraj, Biman's General Manager, said.

The original dry-lease contract with the Egyptians started in December 2014 and was to run for a five-year term. The two aircraft - S2-AGQ (cn 4367) and S2-AGR (cn 4368) - are currently deployed on flights from Dhaka to Barisal, Chittagong...

Air Marshal Jamal Uddin Ahmed (Retd), chairman of Biman board of directors, told the New Nation daily that the carrier's last two A310s, S2-ADF (cn 700), and S2-ADK (cn 594), have now been grounded and will now be put up for sale through an international tender.

The carrier initially planned to replace the A310s with either two B777-200s/(ER)s and one B777-300(ER), or one B737-800 and one B777-300(ER). However, those plans were abandoned after the carrier's board voted to focus more closely on the regional Asian market as opposed to the long haul market.